Child falls from kite flyer at fair

Now there is a case for a lawsuit! If a parent fudges a child's height an inch to get them onto a ride, it is the parent's fault if the child gets hurt. But incorrectly listing a height requirement with a 6 inch difference!! That should never have happened.

Thank goodness the child wasn't more seriously injured

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I'd rather die living than live like I'm dead

Sad to see an accident like this happen but I am glad to see that the child wasn't seriously hurt

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Le roi est mort. Vive le roi.
Thanks Great America!

It is probably a dumb question, but I will ask it anyway.

Does anyone know what type of ride this was? (Manufacturer or model name?)

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Joel Rogers
CoasterGallery.com
http://www.CoasterGallery.com

Zamperla Kite Flyer

I just saw one of these rides for the first time a few weeks ago at a carnival. My daughter must have rode it like 5 times and enjoyed it. Of course she is well over the height requirements but I can see how a person can easily get out of the restraints and a 2 year old doesnt have the mental capability to stay in that position without knowing the consequences of trying to get out.

Personally I think its joint negligence on the parents and the carnival.

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""To be the man, WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!, You got to beat the man""!!! *** This post was edited by Chitown on 8/22/2002. ***

I don't know if I'd really lay much of the blame on the parent, some yes, but not more on the fair. She trusted them to have the correct height requirements posted. Personally, I would have rode with my little ones at that age, but I don't trust a carny or a fair for that matter.

-Eric

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E Blitz Entertainment
Bay City, Michigan

I rode one (with RideMan) and have to say that kid was way too small to be on there.

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com, Sillynonsense.com
"Let's stop saying 'don't quote me,' because if no one quotes you, you probably haven't said a thing worth saying." - Dogma, KMFDM

i think its both as well, negligence on both the carnival and the parent

If that lady is smart enough, then she has already contacted a lawyer and Zamperla about this incident. Her lawyer is going to get all the necessary information and they'll take that fair to court. I hope to see her get a lot of money from this.

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Adam Black | adam@mouseinfo.com
www.americacoasters.com | www.mouseinfo.com

What's she going to sue for? Emotional distress?

I agree with Sara to a certain degree in that the parent needs to exercise a little judgement before letting the kid on the ride. If Dave and I could ride it and still have a fair bit of room to squirm around, you know a little kid will.

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com, Sillynonsense.com
"Let's stop saying 'don't quote me,' because if no one quotes you, you probably haven't said a thing worth saying." - Dogma, KMFDM

Did the mom put the kid on the ride itself, what I mean is did she put him in the ride where she could see he was too small(she followed the height req outside the ride).

Also when the ride op checked the restraints didnt he notice the kid was too small, you would think that they would have noticed if the ride is as big as people say.

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Army Rangers lead the way

It doesn't matter. The fair put out the sign that was wrong. They put people in danger by telling them that it was safe for children to ride that were under the 42" mark. Whether the misplaced sign was intentional or not, I encourage the family to sue the fair. They were neglegent, and someone got hurt. I really don't think that this is the parents fault. If an employee from Cedar Point told you Millennium Force could accomidate children under 48", then why would you have any reason to doubt that the employee is wrong? The average park goer has no idea how rides are designed to keep people in their restraints.

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Jes
Jes's Roller Coasters DJ Jes MCS Please, Feel Free To Call Me Jes!
Six Flags Worlds Of Adventure 2002 Ride-Ops Crew (Have Fun Trying To Find Me!)

Particularly since on the Kite Flyer, the restraints are, if I remember correctly, single-closed-position, and really are unnecessary for the safe operation of the ride. That is, the "seat" mold should be enough to restrain the rider against ride forces; the cage is there to keep the rider from jumping off. And if the rider is small enough to fit through the openings, well, what are you gonna do?

Chalk this one up to rider (mis)behavior, probably related to rider (im)maturity.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

he was two years old though. Most of them that age don't know how to wipe their own ass!

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www.thrillworldonline.tk

VISIT IT!

Speak for yourself...

I agree that ultimately the operator is at fault for not showing the correct height requirement. Zamperla certainly isn't at fault.

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com, Sillynonsense.com
"Let's stop saying 'don't quote me,' because if no one quotes you, you probably haven't said a thing worth saying." - Dogma, KMFDM

I bet enchanted village is happy that this is one of their new rides! lol

Wow, I was on this exact same ride (run by Ray Cammack Shows) at our local fair a couple of weeks ago with my 7 year old daughter. And it had the 42 inch sign on it then (we know cause my son was not quite tall enough to ride). I wonder why the got the wrong sign on there this time. So yes, Cammack Shows definately made a mistake there.

However, I can't understand why any sane parent would put a 2 year old on a ride like this, especially seeing as it's impossible for an adult to help to hold on to them, or for a kid that young to really have a clue to hold on right, let alone the ability to do it.

In my mind, yes the show blundered big time on not having the right sign on there, and not training their op better. But the parent is also majorly at fault for putting their baby (and yes, 2 years old is still a baby) on what is obviously not a little kiddie ride. I mean hello! Get a clue!

they probably saw a lot of other kids going on the ride, and only kids, because thats what i have seen mainly going on kite flyers, very few adults, and just assumed it was a kiddie ride, then saw the height requirement and figured it was ok for the kid to go on, of course i do not think the parent exactly has the best judgement for putting the kid on this ride when he was only 2, if a lot of other young kids were also going on this ride, which i suspect because of the misplaced height sign, then it would have been the obvious choice for the parent if her son wanted to ride

also, shouldnt the op know that the height requirement for this ride was 42 inches and if it was a misplaced sign, im sure the op would have noticed it pretty soon if a lot of little kids kept trying to get on the ride, and the parents pointed out the sign saying it said you only have to be 36inches, sounds like the op wasnt trained very well or has never operated a kite flyer before

My opinion is that the carnival is responsible, it is gross negligence. Granted the parent is an idiot, and thank goodness the boy was not seriously injured. (I'm sure he's gotten worse riding his bigwheel into a wall, 2 year olds are like that!) And if you see the video, the STUPID ride operator made the fall worse than it should have. But when it comes to the end, it's not worth a lot of money. If anything, the medical expenses, IF ANY, plus maybe $10k would be fair to the kid, and then fine the HELL out of the carnival company so it won't happen again.